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The Jim Henson Company
History Jim Henson formed Muppets Inc. in 1958, three years after Sam and Friends debuted. Aside from Sam and Friends, the majority of work that the company had until 1969 was creating characters for various commercials, variety show appearances, and a few meeting films for various companies (the company would produce its own Muppet Meeting Films from 1975 through 1999). In 1969, the company started creating characters for the popular children’s show Sesame Street. One of the company's first characters to be seen regularly on national television was Rowlf the Dog, who was initially created for Purina Dog Chow commercials and soon became famous when he became a regular character on The Jimmy Dean Show from 1963-1966. During this time, the show's host, Jimmy Dean, was given an opportunity to own forty percent of the company. However, Dean turned the offer down because he didn't feel that he had earned it.Craig McDonald Interview with Jimmy Dean For many years, Jim Henson had tried to sell several different shows to the major networks, all of which turned them down. Some ideas (such as Tales of The Tinkerdee) were made as unaired pilots, and some (such as The Zoocus) were never produced. Then, in 1976, Jim Henson was able to produce The Muppet Show for syndication. The success of The Muppet Show led to many movies, specials, videos, and more. The Muppet Show was originally owned by the British company ITC, but Jim Henson later purchased the rights to the show. In the early 1980s, Jim Henson also formed Jim Henson's Creature Shop, which produced characters for shows such as The StoryTeller, Farscape, and Dinosaurs; and movies such as The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth. It was also during the 1980s that Jim Henson produced new television series such as Fraggle Rock and The Jim Henson Hour. In 1990, Jim Henson was in negotiations to sell the company to the Walt Disney Company, but Jim Henson died during the week that he was supposed to sign the contract, and his family decided to keep the company private. In 1999, the Jim Henson Company had partial interests in two cable channels, The Kermit Channel (which was broadcast in Asia) and The Odyssey Channel (which was broadcast in the USA). Hallmark also co-owned these networks. The Odyssey Channel was later renamed the Hallmark Channel. In 2000, Jim Henson’s children sold the company to the German media company, EM.TV. In early 2001, after EM.TV subsequently experienced major financial problems, put the Jim Henson Company up for sale. That year, EM.TV sold the company's ownership of the Sesame Street Muppets to Sesame Workshop and sold the company's ownership of the Odyssey Channel and the Kermit Channel. The Walt Disney Company, HIT Entertainment, Haim Saban, Classic Media, Sesame Workshop, and Sony were among the companies who showed interested in owning the company. However, it was Henson's children who bought back the company in 2003. In 2004, almost one year after ownership of the Henson company was returned to the family’s hands, the Jim Henson Company sold the rights to the Muppets and Bear in the Big Blue House characters to the Walt Disney Company, who control the Muppets through the wholly owned subsidiary Muppets Holding Company LLC, which in 2005 would be renamed Muppets Studio LLC. The Walt Disney Company now owns all Muppet-related trademarks, including the word “Muppet,” that The Jim Henson Company and Sesame Workshop do not own. Current Projects Shortly after selling the Muppets to Disney, the Jim Henson Company made a special distribution deal with HIT Entertainment to have many of its family programs released on DVD, video, and television. The current contract expires in 2009. Henson has also made a four-year deal to help develop new Muppet productions for Disney, and still maintain the Sesame Street Muppets. Henson is also currently trying to work on new productions with their properties. These productions include Power of the Dark Crystal, a Dark Crystal TV series, a feature-length ''Fraggle Rock'' movie, and a digital-puppetry series titled Frances. The company has also started working on adult improvising material. Such works include Puppet Up!, a live improv show which led to a television special and an in-development web series; a possible upcoming talk show, Late Night Buffet and an in-development adult puppet sitcom, Tinseltown. The company is also currently trying to develop a new puppet series for both kids and adults - akin to The Muppet Show's audience. Former Company Titles * Muppets Inc. (1955-1974) * Henson Associates (1974–1990) * Henson International (Early 1980s–1990) * Jim Henson Productions (1990-1997) * The Jim Henson Company (1997-present) : Owned by EM.TV & Merchandising AG from March 2000 to May 2003 Distribution Labels Home Video * Muppet Home Video (1982) * Muppet Music Home Video (1985) (only one video, Doozer Music, released) * Jim Henson's Muppet Video (1985) (distributed by Playhouse Video) * Jim Henson Presents (1985-?) (distributed by Virgin Video in the UK) * Jim Henson Video (1993-1995) (distributed by Buena Vista Home Video) * Jim Henson's Preschool Collection (1994) (distributed by Buena Vista Home Video) * Jim Henson Home Entertainment (1998-present) (distributed by Columbia Home Video from 1998-2004, distributed by Hit! Entertainment from 2004-present) Jim Henson Television The Jim Henson Company started using the "Jim Henson Television" logo in its programming in 1997. This logo also replaced the ending "Henson Associates" and "Jim Henson Productions" logo cards in other productions. On The Muppet Show, it replaced the ending shot of Zoot, which originally had an in-credit notice over it saying "From ITC Entertainment," and was altered in the mid-'80s to feature the 1980s Henson Associates logo fly out from his sax in a bubble. (In the Time-Life video and DVD releases, Zoot's scenes were included in the first two episodes shown, but were replaced by this logo in the last episode in each release.) Angus Fletcher was once an executive at JHT. Albums * MuppetMusic (198?) * Jim Henson Records (1992-1994) (distributed by BMG Kidz) Software * Jim Henson Interactive Logos and Logo Sequences During the 1980s, Fraggle Rock, Muppet Babies, and other productions used a number of animated logo sequences for Henson Associates, and later Jim Henson Productions. A logo for Henson Associates featured the companys initials, "HA!", written in green on a white background. It either had the "HA!" logo zooming out, or in another variation, the exclamation mark shining. One of the earliest Jim Henson Productions logo sequences had an animated arm of Kermit putting up a sign that read "Jim Henson Productions", and after hanging the sign, the sign slid, causing all of the letters to fall off. Another logo used around this time had "Jim Henson Productions" written in green letters and on a white background, with an illustrated Kermit head in place of the "i" in the word "Jim". And yet another version had the Jim Henson text on a window shade, and then the animated Kermit arm pulls up the window shade. Eventually, the logo had "Jim Henson" written in green, with a red underline, with "productions" written in red underneath it, and in front of a black background. Some productions, such as The Jim Henson Hour, ended with this logo zooming into frame, with the background fading to black. In early 1990s productions such as The Muppet Christmas Carol and Muppet Treasure Island (and all Muppet Babies and other Jim Henson Video releases), an animated logo sequence was created in which a laser-like effect drew a Kermit face, which was then colored, and a spark from his eye turned the whole face into a tiny, flying spark, buzzing like a bumblebee, which produced the words "Jim Henson Productions", and the spark then became the dot on the "i". This logo has also been used without the logo sequence, sometimes with the spark becomming the dot of the "i" included. The same basic look of this logo card was also used for the Jim Henson Television logo card. On Dinosaurs, the logo was accompanied by a pterodactyl who either flew past or sat on the logo. Since the aquisition of The Muppets by The Walt Disney Company in 2004, the colours of the logo were changed to a red signature, with a grey underline and 'The Jim Henson Company' in grey underneath. This logo has been used as a static caption at the end of Disney-owned, Henson-produced Muppet productions since the Disney aquisition. It is not currently known whether an animated version exists. Sources External Links *The official site Jim Henson Company, The